Outdoors: You can count on it — this will help birds to survive

From today through early January, more than 2,100 Christmas Bird Count teams throughout the Americas will survey winter bird populations. The annual event — our nation’s oldest, continuous wildlife survey — attracts more than 50,000 intense birders and casual birdwatchers concerned with American birds’ survival.

Christmas Bird Counts replaced the 19th century Christmas tradition of “side hunts,” the competitive shooting of as many birds as possible, regardless of their size, rarity or edibility. U.S. government ornithologist Frank Chapman, an unsung hero in American conservation, inspired the revolutionary change at an alarming time in our history when hunting was unregulated and eastern forests had been largely eliminated by agriculture.

In 1900, as a member of the newly formed National Audubon Society, Chapman proposed the Christmas Bird Count as an alternative to the bird shoot. Twenty-seven observers at 25 sites took part in that first count, mostly in the Northeast. Chapman helped alter the way we saw and valued birds.

Outside the bird world, the count — not necessarily taken on Christmas day — is little known. Massachusetts has 33 traditional count circles. Team members thoroughly do a census for specific parts of a count circle. Skill levels of counters run the full spectrum from professional ornithologists and highly skilled amateurs to rookies, still learning bird identifications. As a novice much in awe, I remember tagging along with former state ornithologist Brad Blodget 40 years ago, learning from him how to identify species by their little-known chip vocalizations.

It’s possible today for novices — valuable as drivers, note-takers, scope-carriers or coffee-providers — to join veterans and learn much in the process. Sedentary observers within a count circle can also contribute by counting birds at their feeders. The key to participation is contacting the compiler for each count circle in advance. For the Worcester Christmas Bird Count, the compiler is John Liller,(508) 877-5770. Athol’s compiler is David Small, (978) 413-1772, and Sturbridge’s is Mark Lynch, (508) 799-9343. You can check the MassBird web site at www.massbird.org for other Massachusetts count areas and their compilers.

The 111 Christmas Bird Count seasons have provided an overview of range and population changes, like the trend for southern birds, including our once-uncommon cardinals, titmice, Carolina wrens, mockingbirds and red-bellied woodpeckers, to expand their ranges north with global warming.

Sightings of feeder-birds have increased dramatically over the years as development perennially diminishes habitat and bird watching becomes more suburban and sedentary. As insect-eating birds have almost all migrated south back to the tropics, seed-eaters will compromise the majority of remaining winter resident songbirds.

Relatively warm conditions now are very similar to those of 2011. Then, with much open water, waterfowl of numerous species were particularly plentiful. What’s very different is the current northern finch invasion, a function of a poor seed crop in the far north. Christmas Counts may well observe crossbills, pine siskins, redpolls and possibly evening grosbeaks — irruptive species that visit us infrequently, looking for food.

During years of rodent shortages up north, we can also observe a hunger-driven influx of special raptors, like snowy, great gray, boreal, hawk, and long-eared owls, as well as gyrfalcons and rough-legged hawks. Discovering rarities and changing trends is the most exciting feature of each Christmas count.

Last year, Worcester’s count totaled 14,764 birds of 86 species. Two other species were seen during count week but not on count day.

To learn more about Worcester County birds, meet skilled, mentoring birders, and contribute to the count, join the local Forbush Bird Club. Named in honor of our state’s first ornithologist, Edward Howe Forbush, the venerable organization is one of our country’s oldest bird watching clubs. Its archived records are a priceless record of local ornithological changes. Forbush offers free, open-to-the-public field trips as well as entertaining and educational monthly programs with noted speakers at the Broad Meadow Brook Sanctuary in Worcester. For membership ($10), contact treasurer Barton Kamp. He can be reached at (508) 753-7463 or www.massbird.org/Forbush.